Film Review: The Iron Lady

Released in 2011, just two years before she died, the Margaret Thatcher biopic written by Abi Morgan portrays an ageing and deteriorating former Prime Minister.

The Iron Lady is told through the eyes of Margaret Thatcher at a time in her life when she suffered with hallucinations of her dead husband’s ghost as a result of her dementia. Meryl Streep takes on the role of Thatcher and has received endless praise for her portrayal. And she deserves it, too. Streep is able to access such a guarded and fierce woman like Thatcher on an almost creepy-good level. Her performance is perfect throughout and she undoubtedly makes the film bearable – it is clear that Streep, who starred in Mama Mia, did the best with what she had.

Morgan’s screenplay doesn’t exactly reveal the true effects of Thatcherism and it could be said that she skirts around the political aspects of the only woman British Prime Minister. Instead, Morgan centres the film around gender, emphasising the fact that Mrs Thatcher defied all odds when she became PM. Scenes of Streep in the Commons at the beginning of the film are a delight to watch as you really get an insight into the fire and the passion of Mrs Thatcher, but they are few and far between and are the obstacle holding the film back from reaching its full potential.

Whether or not you are Mrs Thatcher’s biggest fan, The Iron Lady is intriguing and has an undertone of tragedy as we see a moving portrayal of Denis Thatcher by Jim Broadbent still by his wife’s side even from beyond the grave. The Iron Lady focuses less on politics and more on the emotional and vulnerable side of the woman who refused to compromise. With this uneven focus, the film can make it easy to forget the pain caused by Thatcherism: the miners’ strike, the Falklands and the poll tax.

If there was more of a political view in the film, it would be great. But without that honesty, it is just good – leaving Meryl Streep’s performance as one of the only truly redeeming features of The Iron Lady.